This unique footage of 4 Canadian Lynx was provided by a Canadian research group. The female Lynx was captured in live cage trap. Incidentally, “Mom” was released unharmed to rejoin the family.
Engaged in a fisher study program where fisher are collared and released, the incidental Lynx catch was made by the research team. Appearing first, an adolescent Lynx was followed by two more of his brothers or sisters. It was apparent that the three young Lynx, about six months old, were apprehensive about entering the live cage trap. However, the adult female, no doubt still responsible for providing food for the young, didn’t hesitate entering the live trap to grab a free lunch.
The Canada lynx is a lean, medium-sized cat characterized by its long, dense fur, triangular ears with black tufts at the tips, and broad, snowshoe-like paws. Like the bobcat, the hindlimbs are longer than the forelimbs, so the back slopes downward to the front.
The long, thick fur, uniformly coloured with little to no markings except on the underside, insulates the lynx in its frosty habitat. The fur is typically yellowish brown, though in Newfoundland it can vary from brown or buff-grey in spring and summer to a greyish shade with a grizzled appearance in winter; the underparts are white and may have a few dark spots.
After a gestation of two to three months, a litter of one to eight kittens is born. Kittens weigh from 175 to 235 g (6.2 to 8.3 oz) at birth and initially have greyish buff fur with black markings. They are blind the first fourteen days and weaned at twelve weeks. Most births occur from May to July.
Kittens leave the den after about five weeks and begin hunting at between seven and nine months of age. They leave the mother at around ten months, as the next breeding season begins, but they do not reach the full adult size until around two years of age. Female offspring typically settle in home ranges close to their mothers and remain in contact with them for life, while male offspring move far from their mother’s range.
Canada lynxes have been reported to live sixteen years in the wild, though most do not survive ten; in captivity they may make it to twenty-seven. Various techniques have been employed to study Canada lynx populations; the data collected can provide useful information on the ecology and distribution of the species and pave the way for effective conservation measures. In scent stations, the lynx is typically lured into camera-monitored areas by skunk scent (sometimes catnip) and a “flasher” such as a bird wing on a string.